NC to Grand Canyon

[MyraD1964]

Looking for ideas on sites to see as we travel in August from North Carolina to Grand Canyon. We have no set dates to travel or time limits.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

It's just a basic fact of travel that the fewer restrictions on your travel you have, the more things you can do. On our part, the less you tell us about what restrictions you do have and especially about what you want to accomplish, the more we're just be shooting in the dark. You may think that you "have no set dates to travel or time limits." but indeed you do. You already know you're going in August, and I'm going to assume you plan to be on the road for more than a week but less than a year. Finally, you have the restriction that you're starting from somewhere in North Carolina and you have a specific end point - the Grand Canyon. But that's really not enough for us to give you any meaningful or useful advice.

So, just a few of the things anyone would need to know if they're to be of help to you include:
1) Where in North Carolina are you starting from?
2) You have to have at least outer limits on the amount of time you can spend on this trip. What range of time spans are you considering?
3) What are your interests? What kinds of things would you take the time to see?
4) Who is "we"? What are their interests?
5) One way or round trip?

AZBuck

[Southwest Dave]

As Buck said, to offer any meaningful advice we need more from you. That's what sets us apart from other road trip sites, we help you to plan your trip rather than throw out random suggestions that we may like. It's your trip and we would love to help you get the best out of it FOR YOU.

I would start by looking at a decent map and searching the forums for ideas and inspiration so that you have can get a few dots on the map of your 'must see' sights and then we can help join those dots based on the info you have given us. If it's a round trip plan on taking a different route out and back, there are just so many great places to visit.

[MyraD1964]

Traveling Asheville NC general area.
10 days is what we expect to travel staying 5 nights at the Grand Canyon.
My husband, our 2 adult sons, their spouses and one 3 year old grand son.
Between the three men in our group, we will be driving as much as possible.
We love nature so would love to stop at least one place on our way to the Grand Canyon.
This is a round trip. My husband and myself are driving back while the rest of our group will be flying home.

[Midwest Michael]

Wait, I'm really confused, you went from talking about not having a time limit, to talking about doing this in just 10 days. Is that round trip? If so, you need to go back to the drawing board.

It's nearly 2,000 miles from Asheville to the Grand Canyon. Doing this even in 3 full days each way would be well beyond what we recommend because of safety concerns. It certainly wouldn't give you any time to stop for anything nature related, and will be a miserable slog, especially for your grandson. (Can you imagine being a 3 year old tied to a car seat for 12-14 hours a day?)

I wouldn't consider making this drive unless you have at least 4 days each way. Remember, online mapping program travel time estimates are pure fantasy and don't reflect real world conditions where you have to stop or slow down - and that's extra true when you're talking about a large group with a child, where your stops will be more frequent and take longer.

You're going nearly the entire way across the country, there's no shortage of places to stop and enjoy nature (check out the map center as a starting point, and this list should also provide some good suggestions) but the first step is making sure you have time to make a safe trip, no matter how much the "three men in your group" think they are invincible and can drive all day and all night.

[Rick Quinn]

Michael isn't just reciting a "best practice" when he talks about safety. We understand that you're just trying to make this work with the time you have available, and you obviously want to maximize your time at the Grand Canyon. I wouldn't doubt that it looks do-able to your "three men," if all they're looking at is the fantasy drive time on Google maps.

Most of us old timers have been there, done that. When I was a dumb kid in college and I needed to cross the country in a hurry, I'd drive straight through, day and night, switching drivers every 8 hours or so until we got where we were going, but when I look back on those trips today, I feel like an idiot. There's this thing called FATIGUE that sneaks up on you, especially at night, especially when you're hurtling down the Interstate at 70 mph, watching those white lines whizzing past you. You may not even realize how glazed you are until it's too late, because at 70 mph, nodding off for even a single second is enough to send you hurtling right off the road. Why risk your lives, especially the life of your grandson--and that's not to mention the lives of anyone else sharing the road with you! All to save a day?

We're passionate about safety, for the benefit of everyone on the road. Taking a sensible approach to the length of your driving days will make for a far more enjoyable road trip.

Rick

[Southwest Dave]

10 days is what we expect to travel staying 5 nights at the Grand Canyon.

I'm hoping you mean you have 10 days to travel PLUS 5 days at the Grand canyon. That would be a different ball game. Five days each way still won't give you a whole lot of time for major sightseeing, but at least you can make the drive enjoyable by breaking up the journey with short stops.

[MyraD1964]

I only put the days because the first person that responded said I needed to. We do not plan on doing a lot of site seeing before the Grand Canyon. My husband is a truck driver so driving is not an issue. He has driven for 20 years across country.
Thanks for the online mapping suggestions.

[Southwest Dave]

I only put the days because the first person that responded said I needed to. We do not plan on doing a lot of site seeing before the Grand Canyon.

At the very start of this thread you asked for suggestions on sites to see on route to GC which led us to believe you were sight seeing (with no time limits) and how much time you actually have is a major factor in what sites you may (or may not) be able to see. It still isn't clear how much time you have considered taking to actually get to the Grand canyon, but you need a minimum of 3 overnight stops to do it safely, which I'm sure your husband will already know being a proffesional driver, but that doesn't mean it's going to be fun for a group of people on holiday.

[DonnaR57]

If your husband is a former long-distance hauler (as mine is), then he should know that commercial drivers are limited to 10 hours behind the wheel/in the cab for very good reason: safety of all. I, too, feel sorry for a preschooler in a car seat for that many hours. After a few, he is probably gonna start screaming. It can be like a jail!


Donna